PAPER 111: Section 1.
The Mind Arena Of Choice
P1216:2, 111:1.1
Though the work of Adjusters is spiritual in nature, they must, perforce,
do all their work upon an intellectual foundation. Mind is the human soil
from which the spirit Monitor must evolve the morontia soul with the co-operation
of the indwelt personality.
P1216:3, 111:1.2
There is a cosmic unity in the several mind levels of the universe of universes.
Intellectual selves have their origin in the cosmic mind much as nebulae take
origin in the cosmic energies of universe space. On the human (hence personal)
level of intellectual selves the potential of spirit evolution becomes dominant,
with the assent of the mortal mind, because of the spiritual endowments of
the human personality together with the creative presence of an
entity-point
of absolute value in such human selves. But such a spirit dominance of the
material mind is conditioned upon two experiences: This mind must have evolved
up through the ministry of the seven adjutant mind-spirits, and the material
(personal) self must choose to co-operate with the indwelling Adjuster in
creating and fostering the morontia self, the evolutionary and potentially
immortal soul.
P1216:4, 111:1.3
Material mind is the arena in which human personalities live, are self-conscious,
make decisions, choose God or forsake him, eternalize or destroy themselves.
P1216:5, 111:1.4
Material evolution has provided you a life machine, your body; the Father
himself has endowed you with the purest spirit reality known in the universe,
your Thought Adjuster. But into your hands, subject to your own decisions,
has been given mind, and it is by mind that you live or die. It is within
this mind and with this mind that you make those moral decisions which enable
you to achieve Adjusterlikeness, and that is Godlikeness.
P1216:6, 111:1.5
Mortal mind is a temporary intellect system loaned to human beings for use
during a material lifetime, and as they use this mind, they are either accepting
or rejecting the potential of eternal existence. Mind is about all you have
of universe reality that is subject to your will, and the soul -- the morontia
self -- will faithfully portray the harvest of the temporal decisions which
the mortal self is making. Human consciousness rests gently upon the electrochemical
mechanism below and delicately touches the spirit-morontia energy system above.
Of neither of these two systems is the human being ever completely conscious
in his mortal life; therefore must he work in mind, of which he is conscious.
And it is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend
that insures survival; it is not so much what mind is like as what mind is
striving to be like that constitutes spirit identification. It is not so much
that man is conscious of God as that man
yearns for God that results in universe
ascension. What you are today is not so important as what you are becoming
day by day and in eternity.
P1217:1, 111:1.6
Mind is the cosmic instrument on which the human will can play the
discords
of destruction, or upon which this same human will can bring forth the exquisite
melodies of God identification and consequent eternal survival. The Adjuster
bestowed upon man is, in the last analysis, impervious to evil and incapable
of sin, but mortal mind can actually be twisted, distorted, and rendered evil
and ugly by the sinful machinations of a perverse and self-seeking human will.
Likewise can this mind be made noble, beautiful, true, and good -- actually
great -- in accordance with the
spirit-illuminated will of a God-knowing human
being.
P1217:2, 111:1.7
Evolutionary mind is only fully stable and dependable when manifesting itself
upon the two extremes of cosmic intellectuality -- the wholly
mechanized and
the entirely spiritualized. Between the intellectual extremes of pure mechanical
control and true spirit nature there intervenes that enormous group of evolving
and ascending minds whose stability and tranquillity are dependent upon personality
choice and spirit identification.
P1217:3, 111:1.8
But man does not passively,
slavishly, surrender his will to the Adjuster.
Rather does he actively, positively, and
co-operatively choose to follow the
Adjuster's leading when and as such leading consciously differs from the desires
and impulses of the natural mortal mind. The Adjusters manipulate but never
dominate man's mind against his will; to the Adjusters the human will is supreme.
And they so regard and respect it while they strive to achieve the spiritual
goals of thought adjustment and character transformation in the almost limitless
arena of the evolving human intellect.
P1217:4, 111:1.9
Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain.
The master of the mortal vessel should have the wisdom to trust the divine
pilot to guide the ascending soul into the morontia harbors of eternal survival.
Only by selfishness, slothfulness, and sinfulness can the will of man reject
the guidance of such a loving pilot and eventually wreck the mortal career
upon the evil shoals of rejected mercy and upon the rocks of embraced sin.
With your consent, this faithful pilot will safely carry you across the barriers
of time and the handicaps of space to the very source of the divine mind and
on beyond, even to the Paradise Father of Adjusters.